This whole livestock tracking system bothers me. I think we as a nation can keep our products more at a local level and manage problems better than any kind of national system ever could. When hasn't a government managed program cost us multitudes more than they thought it would, outright failed to do what they said it would, and eventually been misused or used for something completely unrelated to it's original intent.
Jena, I think there ought to be an exemption for small producers - espically organic producers, it would be a reasonable concession. Yes, I value my line of work, don't mind the checks and balances - but, everytime a cow throws a calf on mom & pop farm the feds are gonna come roaring in to tag it..?
Personally, I sleep better at night knowing I can do whatever I want on my homestead that doesn't bother anybody else. That's what I LIKE about Virginia, there are LOTS of independently minded people here, unlike the upper midwest. The idea of a government registration of ANYTHING gets the locals bent. :no:
Ken is probably on track about the mixed blessings, tracking the prices, finding lost cattle, but at what cost? Next will be price supports (like dairy) for beef producers and with it the restrictions on how much beef a farm can produce. "Sorry, Joe, you got 3 too many steers, we're gonna fine you and pick your 3 biggest - let this be a lesson!" Or, restrictions on slaughtering for personal use. The justification would be, "We want to prevent the chance of improper slaughter techniques and/or tainted meat enterinng the market place." Again, huge fines - maybe they'd enforce the RICO law and take your whole farm!
I never thought the mark of the beast applied to animals (little mom) - but, for heavens sake, isn't there a BETTER way of testing than jumping right into registering, marking and tracking every morsel of meat??? I thought this was just a beef thing - nope! http://usaip.info/ They're thinking of eventually tracking EVERYTHING that could be marketed! Abuse and corruption is a natural course for government programs, I'd much rather see this localized and tracked by the beef industry.
Hey, remember OSHA trying to step in and regulate the horse industry in the '70s? It was just a small handful of people that stopped it and started self regulation. Do we really want any kind of government tracking system? I'm definately with blu3duk on this. The thought of non-producers & politically correct politicians "overseeing" any farm scares the **** out of me!
Jena, I think there ought to be an exemption for small producers - espically organic producers, it would be a reasonable concession. Yes, I value my line of work, don't mind the checks and balances - but, everytime a cow throws a calf on mom & pop farm the feds are gonna come roaring in to tag it..?
Personally, I sleep better at night knowing I can do whatever I want on my homestead that doesn't bother anybody else. That's what I LIKE about Virginia, there are LOTS of independently minded people here, unlike the upper midwest. The idea of a government registration of ANYTHING gets the locals bent. :no: Ken is probably on track about the mixed blessings, tracking the prices, finding lost cattle, but at what cost?
Next will be price supports (like dairy) for beef producers and with it the restrictions on how much beef a farm can produce. "Sorry, Joe, you got 3 too many steers, we're gonna fine you and pick your 3 biggest - let this be a lesson!" Or, restrictions on slaughtering for personal use. The justification would be, "We want to prevent the chance of improper slaughter techniques and/or tainted meat enterinng the market place." Again, huge fines - maybe they'd enforce the RICO law and take your whole farm! I never thought the mark of the beast applied to animals (little mom) - but, for heavens sake, isn't there a BETTER way of testing than jumping right into registering, marking and tracking every morsel of meat??? I thought this was just a beef thing - nope! http://usaip.info/ They're thinking of eventually tracking EVERYTHING
that could be marketed! Abuse and corruption is a natural course for government programs, I'd much rather see this localized and tracked by the beef industry.Hey, remember OSHA trying to step in and regulate the horse industry in the '70s? It was just a small handful of people that stopped it and started self regulation. Do we really want any kind of government tracking system? I'm definately with blu3duk on this. The thought of non-producers & politically correct politicians "overseeing" any farm scares the **** out of me!
